H110 in a Dillon 550B

[Kcustom45]

I'm sure it has come up here before, but I figured I would let others learn from my mistakes.

H110 is too fine a powder to use in a Dillon 550B. What was happening to me was a little bit of powder was getting on the outside of the powder bar and causing it to bind up. There might be someone out there that has got it work well for them, but I would HIGHLY recommend you not use H110 and powders like it in your Dillon.

I called and talked with a guy at Dillon and within 2 seconds he knew what the problem was and that there is no way to fix it. You just have to use a different powder. He recommended IMR4227.

I cannot say enough about Dillon's customer service. Every time I have called in they have been extremely helpful.

 

[ninja45]

Hmmmmm, that's curious as I've been using it for years now and never had a problem with sticky/binding powder bar. Must be a fluke on my part. How about others?

Ninja45

 

[1911user]

Shim the gap.

You should be able to find some very thin brass shim stock at a hardware store. Cut a strip the width of the powder bar and a few inches long. Put the strip between the measure body and the spacer for the pistol powder bar. If it is the right thickness (closes the gap, but the bar still can move) then remove and cut a hole in it for powder to pass and another small hole for the white plastic plug. This worked for an old 450 powder measure I had. My 550 measures are tight enough to not need any shimming.

 

[neal7250]

I am a H-110 junkie. I use it in a SQ d 550 & 650, and have never has a problem

 

[lgbloader]

Or...Do what I sometimes do...

Buy a 450 powder die, a 3rd party powder measure adaptor and use a RCBS Uniflow on your 550b. I do that sometimes with 357 mag and 44 mag if I want a dead on consistant measure. I have a couple of RCBS Uniflows and one of them was made for metering H110. Just perfect

I also do it with 38 spcl using different powders such as Bullseye, W231, Titegroup, clays, and Unique...

Cheers...

 

[GaryL]

H110 works great in my 550. Very consistent.

 

[redneck2]

Some Dillons have a very small gap around the slides. Some don't. My old 450 would leak. I have five measures for my 550 and none do.

 

[mallc]

H110 works for me

No problems with H110 in my 650. But... I think I'll run a couple hundred extra rounds this weekend just to be sure!

Scott

 

[Kcustom45]

that's curious as I've been using it for years now and never had a problem

and have never has a problem

H110 works great in my 550. Very consistent.

I have five measures for my 550 and none do

No problems with H110 in my 650

Well aren't you the lucky ones. I have tried it with 2 different large powder bars and both do the same thing. After 3 or 4 rounds the bar is stuck.

I'm just letting you know that the guy at Dillon said and what he recommended. If your Dillons will meter H110 more power (and powder I guess) to you.

I am kinda curious now, though. I am the only one who has experienced this problem?

 

[1911user]

Can you use the small pistol bar for the load you want? It might work better and could be shimmed if required. Shimming would not work well with a large powder bar.

Accurate Arms #7 (or maybe #9) was the powder that forced shimming my old 450 powder measure.

 

[Magnumite]

Maybe the "window" for the bars is too large. Will Dillon replace the measure body for you?

 

[jfrey]

I haven't tried H110, but I did have a powder measure on my SDB that would leak Unique all over the place and Dillon replaced it. The powder bar would rattle loudly when you shook it. Once the entire measure was replaced, no more problems. I don't see trying to shim it as Dillon will normally make it right. You might want to try another slightly more course powder just to be sure. My suspicion is that the bars are all right but the housings may differ slightly during manufacture.

 

[redneck2]

I am kinda curious now, though. I am the only one who has experienced this problem?

You need to go back and re-read my post. I said that my old one did. I suspect that some measures either have too wide a tolerance in machining or the metal drew in when the measure body was cast. H-110 is super fine. Won't take much of a clearance to cause problems.

Dillon sent me two new powder slides. Didn't help. I ended up talking to the right guy and got the whole measure replaced.

I know some guys are big on changing over to the Hornady/RCBS. I have a free standing Hornady and find that the Dillons throw more consistently. Makes no sense as the Hornady looks better made, but that's my experience.

 

[Galil5.56]

lgbloader,

Which 3rd party adapter did you go with?

 

[lgbloader]

Galil,

You really need 2 parts for this.

1. Dillon RL450 Powder die - Part# F57-20308 OR
AT500 Powder die - Part# F57-16629


2. Dillon Powder measur adapter - Part number F57-20029. Retail $17.95


I load my magnums like this to be a bit more intimate but still be progressive.

For 223, I also use the AT500 powder die plus plastic funnel (Part# F57-16617 - $4.95) made especially for the die - (No powder throw) in station 2 and use my RCBS Chargemaster Combo to throw charges of Varget and I charge through the die and funnel for exact trinkle charged finished rounds but loaded progressive.

You can see this has potential for some progressively loaded but dead on exact charges for any caliber. Hmmm...

Cheers...

 

[DEDON45]

I agree with the guys that say call Dillon back and see if you can get a measure with tighter tolerances... while I am a Hornady LnL AP guy, I've seen a Dillon in action (I nearly bought a 650), and don't see any reason this problem can't be overcome with a better fitting measure body and / or powder bar.

Another idea: I have seen (I think it was on Youtube, I also think I saw this setup posted online somewhere in one of the gun forums, may have been here) where a guy wanted a little more precision (don't flame me!) with his powder charges, so he put a Hornady LnL powder measure setup on his press (it was either a 550 or 650)... You would just need the measure, the case-activated powder drop mechanism, and a powder drop lower assembly or 2. I will say this for the Hornady Measure, it can make very precise drops (we're talking +- .1 grain variations) if cleaned up (my only major issue when I first set my press up was the tons of shipping oil they put in the measure... I don't think it could've been any worse if they'd packed it in Cosmoline!) and setup properly.

 

[DaveInFloweryBranchGA]

Heck,

You could buy either an RCBS or Hornady case activated powder drop and either a RCBS Uniflow or Hornady LnL powder measure and either would take care of your problem along with any problems you might have with any other extruded powders.

Regards,

Dave

 

[redneck2]

Or, you could call Dillon and have them send you a new measure body for free instead of spending $100, and still throw as accurate of charges.

I'm loading 1500 .223's for a prairie dog hunt. Probably have loaded about 500-600 so far with Varget. Maybe 9 of 10 are +/- .2 or less, and probably 50% are dead on.

If you're going to get rid of your Dillon measure, I'll forward my address. I'd be real happy to take that crappy old Dillon off your hands.

 

[Rollis R. Karvellis]

I just finished running about 3000 rds of 223 using 2230, once the measure was set it stayed right on, after 4 or 5 hundred rounds I would have to brush the leaked powder off the machine Since it did not affect the charge weight I just put up with it, and tried to save as much of it that I could. It might have been as much as much as 20 gns.

 

[BigJakeJ1s]

I called and talked with a guy at Dillon and within 2 seconds he knew what the problem was and that there is no way to fix it. You just have to use a different powder. He recommended IMR4227.

I cannot say enough about Dillon's customer service. Every time I have called in they have been extremely helpful.

Everyone in customer service has a bad day once in a while. I would too if I had to do that for a living...

But its too bad he didn't take more than two seconds and offer to replace your PM (since others apparently work fine), or tell you about their 3rd party PM adapter and 450/500 powder die.

I think I'd go with the Hornady linkage and PTE, and a Hornady or RCBS Uniflow PM.

Andy